Putting the Pig in Pygmalion
by Emma-Bishop
Summary: Once Upon a time Topher programmed a doll to hate him. Once upon a time Topher made the perfect woman. Spoilers for Omega .


"**You know, dolls make the very best friends. Just because they can't speak doesn't mean they don't listen. And did you know that when we leave them alone in our room, they come to life?"**

- A Little Princess

Once upon a time Topher Brink programmed a doll to hate him. Claire doesn't know why he did it and she tries not to care. Once upon a time Topher Brink programmed her and one of his parameters was to hate him. It's a contributing factor to his status as a loathsome swine but it's part of a long list. The End.

It should be the end.

She is simulacra and the knowledge of this becomes her specter. It haunts Claire as she walks away from Topher. It haunts her while she gives Lima a routine physical. It haunts her as she eats her single serving of rigatoni and watches a Cary Grant film. Why is she the way she is? What would be a piece of metaphysical rhetoric suddenly becomes a frightening, solid inquiry with an equally solid, frightening answer. Worst of all her creator is a morally bankrupt child with a penchant for whack-a-mole.

She tries to ignore her curiosity and unease. She does hate the bastard and knowing why won't change that. This works for a few weeks, but horrible questions start to surface.

She remembers why she kept these scars but she doesn't know why Topher had her keep them.

Budgetary reasons? Plastic surgery would be expensive but small change to the dollhouse they could have brought back her original personality and gotten her to sign a contract for additional years if payback was an issue. Her questions begin to accumulate. How much time does she have left? Her guess, at maximum, is two years.

Why did he look so sad when she found out she was doll? Most disquieting of all is the question that worms its way in so gradually she can't remember when it started to dominate her mind: Did you know my original personality?

This opens a chasm.

Is she hating her brother/lover/friend? She knows who she is. She knows who she is. The day she lets go of this mantra is the day she might as well climb back in the chair.

She makes lists of things in her head to stave of the doubt. Her favorite color is burgundy. Her hairstyle was inspired by Katherine Hepburn. Her first pet was silver tabby named Dickon. She's read 'A Little Princess" one hundred and forty six times. She's never come first in a class but is always in the top ten percent.

She starts accompanying Boyd on his walks. She's worried the first time she tries to sign out but nothing happens, no detainment no Dewitt. Boyd is a good companion amenable to conversation but content to let the silence stretch. Their walks become routine. She learns that he started piano when he was six, taught by his mother after school. He prefers butterscotch to hot fudge. Misses owning a dog but doesn't have time for one. Counts the windows on buildings and number of possible exits in a room. She is still haunted-will be for the rest of her short life but she finds a tenuous path to walk.

One day she finds Topher Brink in her office- standing still, no grin. She puts down her files and takes a seat to listen.

*

Topher is angry when he makes Claire. Still covered in the blood of Alpha's handler and the original Dr. Saunders under orders to make a new physician ASAP. He gets to thinking about the kind of person this place needs. Somebody needs to remember the visceral horror of Alpha and he won't even if he tries. In addition to the scarred, lonely woman he makes he tries to add good things. She cares for the dolls above all else. She knows the details about every comedy made between 1940 and 1960. She believes in the power of kindness. She is clever. Somewhere along the line he finds himself adding details that have no value other than that he finds them beautiful: her favorite flowers are crocuses, as a child she used to leave peanut butter sandwiches outside for fairies, when she was studying to be a doctor she took up calligraphy to de-stress, she prefers dresses because they remind her of when she used to take dance lessons, she knows the Viennese waltz, she was the only girl in he high school computer club. In the end, sleep deprived and twitching, he makes his ideal girl. When he realizes this he adds the parameter to hate him.

The most beautiful thing he's ever made hates him. Is that life or automata? If he was smart instead of obsessing about his best creation he'd go ask out his lovely assistant and they would get pizza and talk about what would happen if you took out someone's amygdala and make jokes about Greedo shooting first and then maybe settle down with a Star Trek DVD. If he was smart and wanted to be happy that's what he would do. Ivy would be easy to fall in love with- she's better than a boy like him deserves. If he was truly a good person he would tell her to pack up her bags, adorable hairstyles and get out. He says nothing to Ivy. Neither encourages or discourages her crush on him. He clings to the status quo.

Or he tries to.

*

The Dollhouse is small and his job does require a certain amount of interface with the chief physician. Avoidance and looking down when they talk only works for so long. He doesn't want to ignore her, he doesn't want to be cruel to her. He wants a lot of things. After three months of dancing about each other he finds himself in her office. He knows when she comes in he'll spill over with truth. Every truth he can tell. This is suicide but he can't move his feet. His breath hitches when he sees her shadow outside the door. He takes a deep breath and gets ready to talk.


End file.
